Kafelnikov joins Borg in record books

Russia's Yevgeny Kafelnikov landed his fifth consecutive Kremlin Cup title with a 6-4 7-5 victory over unseeded German Nicolas Kiefer on Sunday to join Bjorn Borg in the record books.

Only Borg, who won Wimbledon from 1976 to 1980, and Hungary's Balazs Taroczy, the winner of the Hilversum tournament from 1978 to 1982, have won the same event five years in a row since tennis became professional.

Top seed Kafelnikov, who has won his last 25 matches in Moscow since losing to Croat Goran Ivanisevic in the 1996 final, said he was thrilled to be bracketed with the great Swede.

"It's a great honour for me to be in the same company with the likes of Bjorn Borg," he said. "Even Pete Sampras, who won four straight Wimbledons, couldn't win five in a row as he was beaten this year.

Kafelnikov donated his $137,000 first prize to families of victims on the Russian plane which crashed last week in the Black Sea near his home town of Sochi.

Former Russian President Boris Yeltsin made a rare public appearance for Kafelnikov's match.

In the women's final fifth-seeded Yugoslav Jelena Dokic overcame an ankle sprain to crush eighth seed Elena Dementieva 6-3 6-3, preventing a Russian title double.

Dokic, who won the opening three games, injured her left ankle in the fourth when she fell chasing a ball.

"The surface was really sticky and I just twisted my ankle as I ran for the ball," said Dokic after her third title of the year. "We both ran a lot today and maybe it had something to do with my injury."

OPENING SET

In the opening set of the men's final Kiefer squandered a 4-2 lead allowing the Russian to take the next four games and seal the set in 43 minutes.

"I think it was the turning point in the match," said Kafelnikov, who did not drop a set in five matches. "I was a bit uptight before the match, but after winning the first set I became more relaxed and played much better."

In the second, the two players held serve until the 10th game when the 39th-ranked German saved two match points on his serve. In that game Kiefer had a long argument with Italian umpire Romano Grillotti after his second serve was ruled out.

"I though I hit an ace with my second serve as it landed on the line," said Kiefer. "Romano didn't say anything until Yevgeny looked up to him and then he called out.

Kafelnikov disagreed. "Not at all, I never try to influence umpires," he said. "I saw his serve was clearly out and the umpire made a correct call to overrule."

Two games later, Kafelnikov clinched the match on his third attempt after one hour 43 minutes.

"You have to look why he won this tournament for a fifth year in a row," Kiefer said. "He is a great player and when you have 18,000 fans screaming in his favour it's very difficult to beat him."

DOKIC OVERCOMES INJURY

In the women's final Dokic appeared to be fine after calling for a trainer to look at her injury and she went on to take the first set in 35 minutes.

Dementieva had overcome a shoulder injury to knock out top seed and defending champion Martina Hingis in the quarter-finals, but against Dokic she had all sorts of trouble with her service game and was broken repeatedly.

"She was returning really well and even with my first serve I couldn't do much," said Dementieva.

"I wanted to see a doctor before the match to check on my shoulder, but unfortunately I didn't have time."

Dokic now moves into the world top 10 for the first time in her career. Her other title wins this year came at the Rome Masters in May and the Princess Cup in Tokyo last month.

"I made a big step forward after Rome and I proved to myself that I can play well at the top level," she added.